An argument for the existence of a first cause or necessary being from the premise that the universe, or the chain of causes and contingent things within it, requires an explanation outside itself. Aquinas's first three Ways in the Summa Theologiae (1265 to 1274) argue from motion, causation and contingency to an unmoved mover, uncaused cause and necessary being; the kalam version associated with al-Ghazali and revived by William Lane Craig argues that whatever begins to exist has a cause, the universe began to exist, so the universe has a cause; Leibniz's version rests on the principle of sufficient reason. Hume and Kant both pressed objections to inferring a necessary being from contingent premises.
Facts
Origin YearAquinas's Summa Theologiae states the classical Five Ways form; cosmological reasoning is older still, tracing to Aristotle's unmoved mover. Classification
Position Kind Connections
Associated With
The first three of Aquinas's Five Ways, in the Summa Theologiae, are the classical statement of the argument.
Source Cosmological Argument (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
In Branch
Sources
1. Cosmological Argument (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Cosmological Argument, on Aristotle
the classical argument is firmly rooted in Aristotles Physics (VIII, 4-6) and Metaphysics (XII, 1-6).
Cosmological Argument
The cosmological argument is less a specific argument than an argument type.
- Associated With: Thomas Aquinas
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